We’ve all come to know a certain phrase over the years, at this point it is more of a mantra, and it has been said by more people than one could possibly count, but maybe due to that very reason alone, people have stopped taking it very seriously. After all, when you hear something all the time, you start getting some sort of immunity towards it, same goes for anything. It’s a defensive mechanism from our brain which helps us stay sane, but this can often stop us from following some beneficial words of wisdom which were right in front of us for years on end, yet we did not act on them. In this case, we are talking about the phrase “Home is where the heart is”. A rather simple phrase, which is concise and to the point for sure, but it certainly has a lot of meaning behind it, and while we are not here to have a philosophical discussion, we can take a lot from that phrase and try to implement it into our daily lives.

As an example, it could be applied to family life. Families grow more and more distant as the years go by, and in the modern world where everyone is busy staring at their own monitor in their own room. Their TV, PC, game console, or phone, or even a different monitor outside the house, like an arcade cabinet or a cinema. Of course, it is somewhat understandable and there is nothing inherently wrong with it, but it has come to the point where many families barely see each other and the people closest to them become their co-workers. Which is not anything bad per se, but it does seem somewhat strange. Especially considering that family is forever, while people change jobs all the time. If you wish to strengthen or repair those weaker than ever family ties, which you probably do, then you have to start at the core of the problem. The house. Whether it’s the atmosphere, the smell, the bins which aren’t taken out for the past week, or the mess, something has to get done. Make the house, the place where the heart wants to be, and after a while, you will surely see some change.

Cleanliness is next to godliness

When you frequent a certain place every day, or at least most days, you start to perceive it slightly differently than the average person. Your brain starts filtering out a lot of things which you’ve grown used to, much like the previously mentioned phrases. That stack of papers which fell over on your desk but you weren’t bothered to pick up, so it has just been sitting there for a while. That unorganized shelf full of boxes, mugs, jars and pots. The draft coming from the kitchen door that nobody has bothered fixing because it’s too much effort to look into after work. We’ve all been there, and we’re all guilty of sometimes letting ourselves get too complacent with the standard of tidiness in our surroundings. Fortunately for you, there’s nothing which a little bit of pick-up-and-put-away methodical cleaning can’t fix. Dedicate some of your free time, doesn’t have to be much, to putting away various things which you don’t use every day for let’s say, a few days. Before you know it, you will have noticeably decluttered the room, and made yourself feel better about… well, yourself.

Sometimes dusting isn’t enough

Despite the fact that it says “there’s nothing which a little bit of pick-up-and-put-away methodical cleaning can’t fix”, that is only half true. You see, it will fix most of the most of the usual gaping issues with the general appearance of the room, but if the issues at hand are a bit more severe then you might need to get stuck in, or get someone else to get stuck in for you. Some things are just best left to professionals, for example, the infamous draft coming from the kitchen or corridor door, or the slight bit of mold in the corner of the bathroom. If your air conditioning is starting to feel like it’s no longer in its prime, get a company like ABC home & commercial AC repair to come down and fix it for you. Way overdue on sorting out a leak in the roof somewhere? Maybe because it’s leaking in a place which doesn’t affect you all that much as of yet? Well, you might just need to take care of it before it’s too late, because leaks have a nature of wearing away at whatever they are leaking through, only making the problem worse. Not to mention, if you call for a professional’s help when the situation is bad enough that you feel like you finally needed to call, keep in mind that it might take a bit of time for anyone to arrive and actually fix anything. It’s the little things like this which can really turn into a costly problem, from an originally manageable one. So, be safe, not sorry.

Liven up the place a bit

No one is assuming that you are living in a coffin, and your interior is surely satisfactory, but be honest with yourself and think back to when was the last time you redecorated the place? Due to the usually expensive nature of such endeavors, we don’t tend to do them too often, but sometimes in order to keep yourself feeling good within the walls of your own domain, such things have to be taken care of. The best place to start is usually the living room, as it is not only the room that it probably the most used one, by the largest amount of people, but also because it is your place of rest during your conscious hours.

Start with a nice rug or carpet, some tastefully colored flooring can really bring the place together as it covers a rather large area of the room despite technically being a single piece of furniture. It can really shine some new light on the place. Another thing you can do which is along the same lines is painting the walls. Single color, two-tone, different color per wall, warm colors, cold colors, all up to you. If you want family movie nights to come back better than ever, or just a new place to rest your weary body after a long day at work, then a new sofa can work wonders. Not to mention that it is usually the very centerpiece of the room, with many of the other usual elements of the room being positioned according to it. The coffee table, the TV with the TV stand, and everything else usually in turn forms around those. With some new furniture like a sofa or something else which is big enough to warrant moving around existing pieces of furniture, you have the perfect excuse to finally rearrange the room to your liking.

And then…

Once your living room is sorted, feel free to get creative with the other rooms. Be as fancy or as basic as you like, but try to keep some sort of prioritized schedule. Take care of more “public” rooms first, such as the kitchen and the bathroom, and after that’s done you can move onto the bedrooms or even the study if you’re lucky enough to have one of those. Of course, take all of this as a guideline of sorts and don’t worry too much if some of it doesn’t align with your interests, but the main concept usually remains the same. Just remember, that a pleasant, well-kept house with an atmosphere which makes you feel relaxed and actually “homely” is usually the key to bringing people together. Both your family and loved ones, as well as any guests which you might bring over.